Tag: websites

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 10/3/13

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

These days we all know about the NSA collection of information about every phone call we make, every email we send, and much of what we search for and look at on the Internet. but the NSA is not the only surveillance organization around, as these examples illustrate. So what’s a person to do if s/he values personal privacy. Our everyday choices are a good place to start.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 9/5/13

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

We’ve been hearing a lot about the data collection of the phone calls and emails of American citizens by the National Security Agency (NSA). “We’re only collecting metadata” says the government. But what can metadata tell the government – or anyone else. Quite a lot, as it turns out.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 4/25/13

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Well, this is it – the final edition of Notes from the Electronic Cottage, at least for a while. This feature is making way for short features from the WERU archives in this, WERU’s 25th anniversary year. But on the way out the door, here are a few thoughts to ponder as we go about our daily lives in the digital age.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 4/18/13

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

The web has made access to the decisions of federal and state courts much more accessible than in the days when we had to go to the courthouse to look at a case. Here are some good sites to look at if you want to go right to the actual court documents for yourself.

www.pacer.gov – this is the official site for access to federal court documents – but you have to register and pay if you look at a lot of pages. Still, it is the only complete source for not only court decisions but the documents behind the decisions.

These sites offer many federal and some state decisions, as well as other useful information and are free
www.plainsite.org
www.law.cornell.edu
www.plol.org

This site provides access to Maine court decisions from about 1997
www.maine.gov/legis/lawlib/cases.htm

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 1/26/12

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Now that the SOPA and PROTECT-IP bills seem on temporary hold, it’s a good time to take a look at some webs sites that use today’s technologies to make our world more understandable. Here are several:

www.forvo.com – learn to pronounce words in over 280 lanuguages

www.loc.gov/jukebox – the Library of Congress’s National Jukebox site

http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/the-oec-facts-about-the-language – a look at the most commonly used words in the English language.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 4/14/11

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Want to be a citizen scientist? Thanks to the Internet, you can be, and from the comfort of your own home. Listen up, then check out these sites:

Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC):
http://boinc.berkeley.edu

NASA-For Citizen Scientists: http://science.nasa.gov/citizen-scientists

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 4/7/11

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Here are the web site addresses mentioned on today’s program.

MARVEL, where you can read thousands of magazines, newspapers and reference works: http://libraries.maine.edu/mainedatabases.

A look at the state of the news media in the U.S.: www.stateofthemedia.org

One site’s very good analysis of the best jobs in the U.S. Be sure to check the criteria used to make the list:
www.focus.com/fyi/human-resources/best-jobs

The Top 20 Open Source Program Downloads:
http://www.tripwiremagazine.com/2010/03/20-most-popular-open-source-software-ever-2.html

A great genealogy site with millions of records, free software, and tutorials: www.familysearch.org

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 5/14/09

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell
A little spring catch-up today: a court case that may change your relationship with web site owners you patronize, and the unsurprising news that the supposedly secure cordless phone you’ve been using is not so secure after all.